


Will you marry me?

by I_write_things_sometimes



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Established Relationship, Fluff and Humor, Inspired by Friends (TV), M/M, Marriage Proposal, Team Dynamics, Team as Family, Tony No
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-06-26 06:37:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19762597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_write_things_sometimes/pseuds/I_write_things_sometimes
Summary: The team's talk about long-term commitment in his relationship with Steve nearly sends Tony running for the hills. He and Steve have a fight and, well. Tony... overcorrects. Or tries to, anyway."Steve stared down at Tony — who was on one knee holding a ring, and Steve really couldn’t wrap his head around that yet — in shock. He didn’t say anything for a long minute. As his brain distantly tried to work through how in the hell Tony could have ever thought this was a good plan, Steve looked to his friends for help."





	Will you marry me?

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a prompt I loved by lazywriter7 from the Imzy (Bringing Food to the Lab) Monday Donate-a-Prompt list. I can only assume the prompt-provider was also inspired by That Episode of Friends you'll probably recognize if you're a fan of the series (5x15). 
> 
> I hope I did the prompt justice!

“Will you marry me?” 

Steve stared down at Tony — who was on one knee holding a ring, and Steve _really_ couldn’t wrap his head around that yet — in shock. He didn’t say anything for a long minute. As his brain distantly tried to work through how in the hell Tony could have ever thought this was a good plan, Steve looked to his friends for help.

Natasha was… walking out of the room. Yep, that was about right.

Sam was… well, quite honestly Sam was on the verge of laughter. Bucky was… Bucky was staring at Tony like he was the dumbest genius in the universe and Steve couldn’t help but agree with him at this point. Clint looked confused, but also slightly guilty and Steve was pretty sure that explained some of this calamity. Wanda was sitting beside Clint on the couch looking like she was sucking on a lemon.

_God help me,_ Steve thought and kneeled down beside his painfully misguided but well-meaning boyfriend to try to figure out what had just happened. 

“Tony, why are you doing this?” Steve kept his voice soft and gentle. 

“I don’t— I can’t lose you, Steve. I love you. So. I’m sorry. Please?” He held the ring box out, and Steve noticed that the ring didn’t actually look painfully generic like he’d expected. Steve wasn’t sure what to do with that.

“Sweetheart, I don’t want you to propose to me to keep me from leaving. Or because you’re sorry that we fought. That’s not how that works.”

Tony looked equal parts relieved and upset. “So, no?”

“No,” Steve shook his head slowly and reached for Tony’s hands on the ring box to close it. “Not like this.” Tony looked incredibly worried now and Steve’s heart broke a little bit. “Honey, I wasn’t asking you to _propose_ ,” Steve smiled and laughed a little, still keeping things gentle. “I promise you, the only ones cracking jokes about weddings and kids were these idiots.” He waved a hand at Sam, Bucky, Wanda, and Clint. “But they always do that. You can’t listen to them. All I wanted was for you to go back to normal and stop insisting that we were ‘casual’ every time we were in the same room.”

“That’s it?”

“Yes.” Steve was actually laughing now. “That’s _all_ I wanted.”

“Well I talked to these guys,” Tony waved a hand at Clint and Wanda and Steve snorted. 

“What, you talked to 19-years-old and in a relationship with a glorified AI and _Clint_?”

“Hey!” Wanda squeaked. “I gave _great_ advice. I told him to talk to you. I didn’t say anything about proposing.”

Everyone turned to look at Clint who raised his hands in defense. “Don’t look at me, you should all know better than to come to me for relationship advice.” He crossed his arms defiantly. “Besides, if I recall correctly I said ‘do something special to show him that you care about him.’”

It wasn’t the worst advice, Steve supposed. Based on Sam and Bucky’s thoughtful nods, they agreed. 

“Well you failed to consider the Tony-factor,” Steve said, squeezing the bridge of his nose.

“The what?” Tony asked, indignant.

“The Tony-factor,” Bucky said. He was nodding sagely, like Steve’s comment made perfect sense. “You know, your tendency to hear normal, sane advice that most people would take to mean ‘apologize and buy him some flowers’ or ‘surprise him with a weekend trip and admit you were being an idiot,’ and translate it to mean ‘propose to him.’”

“Oh, we have a name for that now?” Sam asked, smiling. “Cool. I didn’t know.”

“No!” Tony snapped. “There’s not a name for that.”

“There definitely is,” Clint said.

“Tony,” Steve said, pulling Tony around to face him. “I’m not going anywhere as long as I know you actually want me around for more than a casual fling, okay?”

“Yeah, okay,” Tony said, finally smiling a little. Steve knew him well enough to see the smallest hint of sheepishness in his eyes, but he doubted anyone else would notice. 

“Come here.” Steve pulled Tony into a hug. It was a little awkward because they were both kneeling, but they made it work.

“Oh my god,” Steve said, laughing a little as he pulled back to look at Tony. “What would you have done if I said yes?”

“I would have been happy,” Tony said slowly, “because I would have been able to spend the rest of my life with you, and I love you.” He thought about it for a minute. “Or I would have flipped out, sold the company, and disappeared to live out the rest of my life as a broke mechanic.”

Steve laughed and pulled Tony close again.

“Oh god,” Bucky groaned. “This is going to be a thing now, isn’t it?” 

“Of course it is,” Nat said, breezing back into the room as if she hadn’t left. “He’s going to use it to get out of all kinds of trouble because Steve here can’t help thinking he’s adorable.”

Steve blushed a little and glared at Natasha. When he looked back at Tony, the man was smirking a little. 

“Tony, no.” 

“Tony, yes!”

Steve sighed. 

* * *

It became a thing.

As they stumbled off the battlefield, Tony’s exposed right arm was bleeding steadily. His left arm was cradling the right gauntlet which had been ripped off by the evil, giant, mind-controlled octopus they’d been called in to fight. Steve was furious and glared at Tony while he wrapped white bandage strips around Tony’s forearm. 

“We need to have a serious discussion about what ‘fall back’ means to you,” Steve snapped, tying the bandage and squeezing Tony’s arm to apply pressure. Tony winced and Steve was vindictively pleased; serves him right for putting himself in harm’s way.

“Do we, though?” Tony said in that playful way he used, which meant he wasn’t going to take responsibility for what happened any time soon. Steve sighed internally. “What if instead, I take what’s left of the gauntlet and melt it down into rings, huh?” He wiggled his eyebrows and his armor-covered left hand suggestively. 

“Tony,” Steve said. He rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. 

“No?” Tony frowned, but he was teasing.

“No.” Steve couldn’t help that his grin was growing. “But keep it up, maybe I’ll change my mind.”

Tony laughed and Steve joined in.

* * *

And it continued.

“Steve, I’m so sorry,” Tony blurted as he rushed into the room. “I know I was supposed to be here a while ago — ”

“Two hours ago,” Steve said, his voice cold and hard. “You were supposed to be here _two hours ago_ for our standing date. Which is on the same night every week. Specifically so _you_ don’t forget.”

“I know, I know,” Tony sighed. He was sitting across from Steve now. He sounded genuinely frustrated with himself as he placed his hand gently on top of Steve’s. “I’m sorry, honey. There was an emergency at one of our overseas factories, and Pepper requested that I call the lead engineer to help. Flash forward to an hour later when we realized the problem was twice as bad as we’d originally thought, and I just… lost track of time. None of that is an excuse. It was just a shitty thing to do. I’m really sorry.”

Steve looked up from their hands, which were on top of the book Steve had been reading — or pretending to read, really — while he waited for Tony to finally make an appearance. He’d known that Tony would come home sometime, after all. He always did.

He met Tony’s eyes and smiled a little. 

“An engineering emergency, huh?”

“Yeah.” Tony ran his free hand through his hair, one of his tell-tale signs of stress or nerves. “It was a disaster.”

“Did you fix it?”

“Yeah.” 

Steve smiled. “Well that’s good then.” Tony looked equal parts confused and hopeful. Steve’s grin widened. “I forgive you.” Steve shrugged. “Shit happens.”

And really, it had been months since Tony had missed date night. Steve hadn’t been planning to hold a grudge over it as long as Tony apologized.

“Oh,” Tony laughed a little, like he hadn’t expected that fight to be over so quickly. “Thanks.”

“Any time,” Steve teased a little. 

“Should we try to salvage the night?” Tony asked, mischief creeping into his previously-earnest expression. “Or do you want to postpone to tomorrow? We could meet at city hall, get married? You know, your standard ‘sorry I fucked up date night' stuff.”

Steve laughed and shook his head. “Let’s not. I’m sure we can make the most of what’s left of tonight.”

“Deal,” Tony said, pulling off his suit jacket and joining Steve where he was curled up on the couch. 

If Steve had been paying more attention he might have noticed that the fear he’d seen in Tony’s eyes the first time he’d proposed all those months ago wasn’t there anymore.

* * *

And continued.

“Stark’s late,” Fury said, glaring at Steve. 

“You say that like it’s my fault, somehow.”

“You date him, he becomes your responsibility.”

“Nope, not taking that on, but thanks.”

“What aren’t you taking on, my darling?”

Steve rolled his eyes at the out-of-the-ordinary pet name. It was for Fury’s benefit, not his. 

“I’m not taking responsibility for your chronic lateness,” Steve retorted.

“Oh that’s a good call, don’t do that.”

“Wasn’t planning to.”

Tony smiled at Steve like they were the only two people in the room. “I knew there was a reason I loved you,” Tony said. “You’re smart _and_ hot. So… what do you say we pop over to City Hall after this and exchange vows real quick, hm?”

“No, Tony.” But Steve was smiling fondly down at his paperwork, steadfastly ignoring Fury’s confused glances between the two of them. 

“One day, though, right?” Tony pressed. 

Steve glanced up at him briefly. “Maybe.” Tony pouted. “I’ll think about it,” Steve said, playful. Fury looked at him like he was certifiably insane. “What? He’s cute.”

Steve winked, and Tony beamed at him.

* * *

Until the morning when Tony proposed _before_ Steve knew what had gone wrong.

Tony just walked into the kitchen wearing Captain America pajama pants with his hair still mussed from sleep and smiled softly at Steve. He pressed a quick kiss to Steve’s cheek and went for the coffee pot. 

“Marry me?” Tony asked, so casually Steve thought he was hearing things. 

Normally there was a bit more build up than this.

“What have you done wrong this time, then?” Steve asked, finally recovering his senses and smiling a little. “Did you blow something up in the lab?”

“No.”

“Piss Bruce off and cause the Hulk to crash through another wall?”

“Nope.”

“Make Nat angry and plan to use me as a human shield?”

“No! Of course not, do you think I’m crazy?”

Steve was running out of guesses. “Did you lie to me about something?”

“No.”

“Then what, Tony?” Steve asked, finally a little frustrated. “Why?”

Tony put his coffee mug down and looked at Steve. He was smiling softly, but just barely, like this was a serious conversation he didn’t want to take too lightly.

“Because I want to marry you,” Tony said. “That’s all.”

_Oh._ Steve blinked at Tony for a second, surprised beyond belief. 

Tony smiled and shifted on his feet. He was nervous, Steve realized.

“You’re serious,” Steve said as more of an observation than a question. 

Tony answered anyway. “Totally serious. Serious as I’ve ever been.”

Steve smiled.

“Then yes. Absolutely. Of course.” He was nodding, too much, probably, and grinning so hard it hurt. 

Tony smiled a little cautiously. “Yeah?”

Steve reached out and pulled Tony into a deep kiss. He moved away slightly but kept their foreheads and noses pressed together. They were both laughing. 

“Yes, please,” Steve said once he could contain his joy enough to speak. Then added, “I’ve wanted to marry you for a while, you know.”

“Well, that’s not on me. You’ve had plenty of opportunities.”

Steve rolled his eyes and started to snark back, but Tony kissed him quiet before he could get anything out.

**Author's Note:**

> So... what did you think? I had a lot of fun with this one and it came together easily. That's always nice, but can also be deceptive. Like... did I seriously screw it up because it seemed too easy lol? 
> 
> I'd love to hear your thoughts ;). Thanks so much for reading! 
> 
> Also - no shade on Vision at all, it was just too good of a comment not to use haha. I hope it didn't offend anyone. Steve loves Vis, it was all in good fun, I promise.


End file.
